Can I believe my eyes that nobody, not once, mentioned Star Trek? Are there no Trekies?
Posts by freyd
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93What Are Your All Time Favorite TV Shows?
by minimus inall in the family is one of the very best series, in my opinion.. when i see re-runs of the andy griffith show, i smile.
when i was a kid, i never really appreciated don knotts and the gang as much as i do now.. taxi was another favorite.
hill street blues was great.
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If You're Annointed and You Know It Clap Your Hands...
by VoidEater inok...i see there are a fair number of posters here that have a "heavenly hope".... i can't help but wonder - what would it be like if a group of annointed (those that know in their hearts they will be resurrected to heaven) were to step up to the wbts, claim the authority the society vests in them as the true intermediaries between the great crowd and jesus, and try to give input to the gb?.
how could the gb posisbly say they are not part of the fds?
i suppose they would just paint everyone with the apostasy brush - "because i say they are and they disagree with me" - but wouldn't it be a marvel to see a group come forward to assert the authority and responsibility the gb says is vested in the fds?.
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freyd
If they are anointed they will find who the real Wise and Faithful Servant was and realize that you can't put new wine into old wine skins.
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MICHIGAN v OHIO STATE
by AllTimeJeff ini didn't really get it till last year, when we lost to ohio state, and that smug dumb@$$ of a coach jim tressel.
so close, and the day after bo schembechler died.
but this is a huge game.
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freyd
Well I guess they're not telling John Cooper jokes in Michigan any more. LOL
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Visions of Glory
by freyd invisions of glory chapter 1 .
.........."in 1944, when i like ______ was 9 years old, i became one of jehovah's witnesses.
whatever effects the supreme court's ruling may have had on children of jehovah's witnesses in brockton, massachusetts, it is certain that nobody thought to enforce the court's ruling in brooklyn, new york.
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freyd
Visions of Glory Chapter 1
.........."In 1944, when I like ______ was 9 years old, I became one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Whatever effects the Supreme Court's ruling may have had on children of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brockton, Massachusetts, it is certain that nobody thought to enforce the Court's ruling in Brooklyn, New York. After my baptism at a national convention of 25,000 Witnesses in Buffalo, New York, in the summer of 1944, I became an ardent proselytizer, distributing The Watchtower and Awake! magazines on street corners and from door to door, spending as much as 150 hours a month in the service of my newly found God-under the directives of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the legal and corporate arm of Jehovah's Witnesses.
As I had been immersed in water to symbolize my "dedication to do God's will," I became, also, drenched in the dark blood-poetry of a religion whose adherents drew joy from the prospect of the imminent end of the world. I preached sweet doom; I believed that Armageddon would come in my lifetime, with a great shaking and rending and tearing of unbelieving flesh, with unsanctified babies swimming in blood, torrents of blood. I believed also that after the slaughter Jehovah had arranged for His enemies at Armageddon, this quintessentially masculine God-vengeful in battle and benevolent to survivors-would turn the earth into an Eden for true believers.
Coincidentally with my conversion, I got my first period. We used to sing this hymn: "Here is He who comes from Eden/ All His raiments stained with blood." My raiments were stained with blood too. But the blood of the Son of Man was purifying, redemptive, cleansing, sacrificial. Mine was proof of my having inherited the curse placed upon the seductress Eve. Mine was filthy. I examined my discharges with horror and fascination, as if the secret of life-or a harbinger of death-were to be found in that dull, mysterious effluence.
I was, in equal measure, guilt-ridden and-supposing myself to be in on secrets of the cosmos-self-righteous and smug. I grew up awaiting the final, orgasmic burst of violence after which all things would come together in a cosmic ecstasy of joy-this in a religion that was totally anti-erotic, that expressed disgust and contempt for the world.
My ignorance of sexual matters was so profound that it frequently led to comedies of error. Nothing I've ever read has inclined me to believe that Jehovah has a sense of humor; and I must say that I consider it a strike against Him that He wouldn't find this story funny:
One night shortly after my conversion, a visiting elder of the congregation, as he was avuncularly tucking me into bed, asked me if I was guilty of performing evil practices with my hands under the covers at night. I was puzzled. He was persistent. Finally, I thought I understood. And I burst into wild tears of self-recrimination. Under the covers at night, I bit my cuticles-a practice which, in fact, did afford me a kind of sensual pleasure. (I didn't learn about masturbation-which the Witnesses call "idolatry, "because "the masturbator's affection is diverted away from the Creator and is bestowed upon a coveted object" [TW, Sept. 15, 1973, p. 568], until much later.)
So, having confessed to a sin I hadn't known existed, I was advised of the necessity for keeping one's body pure from sin; cold baths were recommended. I couldn't see the connection, but one never questioned the imperatives of an elder, so I subjected my impure body to so many icy baths in midwinter that I began to look like a bleached prune. My mother thought I was demented. But I couldn't tell her that I'd been biting my cuticles, because to have incurred God's wrath-and to see the beady eye of the elder steadfastly upon me at every religious meeting I went to-was torment enough.
I used to preach, from door to door, that an increase in the number of rapes was one of the signs heralding the end of the world; but I didn't know what rape was. I knew that good Christians didn't commit "unnatural acts"; but I didn't know what "unnatural acts" were. (And I couldn't ask anybody, because all the Witnesses I knew began immediately to resemble Edith Sitwell eating an unripe persimmon when these abominations were spoken of.) Consequently, I spent a lot of time praying that I was not committing unnatural acts or rape.
Once, having heard that Hitler had a mistress, I asked my mother what a mistress was, (I had an inkling that it might be some kind of sinister super-housekeeper, like Judith Anderson in Rebecca.) I knew from my mother's silence, and from her cold, hard, and frightened face, that the question was somehow a grievous offense. I knew that I had done something wrong, but as usual, I didn't know what.
The fact was that I never knew how to buy God's-or my mother's-approval. There were sins I consciously and knowingly committed. That was bad, but it was bearable. I could always pray to God to forgive me, say, for reading the Bible for its "dirty parts"; for preferring the Song of Solomon to all the begats of Genesis. But the offenses that made me most horribly guilty were those I had committed unconsciously; as an imperfect being descended from the wretched Eve, I was bound, so I had been taught, to offend Jehovah seventy-seven times a day, without my even knowing what I was doing wrong.
There was guilt, and there was glory: I walked a spiritual tightrope.
I feel now that for the twelve years I spent as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, three of them as a member of the Watchtower Society's headquarters staff, I was living out a vivid dream, hallucinating within the closed system of logic and private reality of a religion that relished disaster; rejoiced in the evil of human nature; lusted for certitude; ordered its members to disdain the painful present in exchange for the glorious future; corrupted ritual, ethics, and doctrine into ritualism, legalism, and dogmatism.
I was convinced that 1914 marked "the beginning of the times of the end." So firmly did Jehovah's Witnesses believe this to be true that there were those who, in 1944, refused to get their teeth filled, postponing all care of their bodies until God saw to their regeneration in His New World. (One zealous Witness I knew carried a supply of cloves to alleviate the pain of an aching molar which she did not wish to have treated by her dentist, since the time was so short till Jehovah would provide a new and perfect one. To this day, I associate the fragrance of cloves with the imminence of disaster.)
More than thirty years have passed, but though their hopes have not been fulfilled, the Witnesses have persevered with increased fervor and conviction. Their attitude toward the world remains the same: because all their longing is for the future, they are bound to hate the present-the material, the sexual, the fleshly. It’s impossible to savor and enjoy the present, or to bend ones energies to shape and mold the world into the form of goodness, if you are waiting only for it to be smashed by God. There is a kind of ruthless glee in the way Jehovah's Witnesses point to earthquakes, race riots, heroin addiction, the failure of the United Nations, divorce, famine (and liberalized abortion laws) as proof of the nearness of Armageddon.
The God I worshiped was not the God before whom one swoons in ecstasy, or with whom one contends: He was an awesome and awful judge, whom one approached through his "channel," the "divinely appointed Theocratic organization"-the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The Christ in whose name I prayed was not a social reformer, nor was he God incarnate, the embodiment of the world's most thrilling mystery, God-made-man. He was, rather, merely a legal instrument (albeit the most important one) in God's wrangles with the Devil. All the history of the world is seen, by Jehovah's Witnesses, as a contest between Jehovah and Satan:"
Much more to read.....http://www.exjws.net/vg1.htm -
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Avoiding an Elder
by R.F. ini'm almost six months past walking away from the religion, and one of the elders has risen and thrown a monkey wrench into my entire plan.
things have been great actually.
since i've managed to shed myself of congregation responsiblities, the elders have gotten off my back quite a bit.
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freyd
Tell them you're transferring to a new congregation. Go to a couple of meetings. Just don't request your records get sent.
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Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater Goodbye Watchtower Hello Nothing?
by Magick inas witnesses who were deeply indoctrinated.
we accepted all of jehovah's witness teachings as a total package, it was "the truth".
there were no cracks in our armor that would allow other ideas, doctrines or thoughts to seep in.
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freyd
You're right, but you're wrong.
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Satan gets Credit for Everything...Even the Bible/New World Translation!!!
by oompa inthis thread subject starts after a few posts helping me get it on wordpad from word....thanks guys!...darn i lost all my highlights...geeze this took an hour...i thought the site was down!
the first few post can help you post easier, then i hope sombody finds subject info.
interesting!.
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freyd
WT July 1, 1879
"WHAT IS TRUTH?"
"This question is one which every sincere Christian should ask and seek to answer. We should learn to love and value truth for its own sake; to respect and honor it by owning and acknowledging it wherever we find it and by whomsoever presented. A truth presented by Satan himself is just as true as a truth stated by God.
Perhaps no class of people are more apt to overlook this fact than the Christian. How often do they in controversy overlook and ignore truth presented by their opponents. This is particularly the case when arguing with an infidel. They feel at perfect liberty to dispute everything he says on religious subjects. This is not the correct principle. Many infidels are honest--as anxious to speak and believe the truth as are Christians--and if in converse with them we ignore truths which they may advance, we not only fail to convince them of our truths, but put an end to all hope of reaching them; for our failure to admit the evident truth which they advance begets in them contempt for the one who is not honest enough to admit one truth because he does not see how it can be reconciled to another. Accept truth wherever you find it, no matter what it contradicts, and rely for ability to afterwards harmonize it with others upon "The Spirit of truth, which shall guide you into all truth," as Jesus promised." ::R9 : page 3::
http://www.ctrussell.us/ -
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Where does a JW start to research?? It's all LIES
by horrible life ini came to jwd because i was angry and scared of a person.
in my anger, i wanted to scream about my past life as a jw.
as a jw, if i was told to research, where would i start?
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Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater Goodbye Watchtower Hello Nothing?
by Magick inas witnesses who were deeply indoctrinated.
we accepted all of jehovah's witness teachings as a total package, it was "the truth".
there were no cracks in our armor that would allow other ideas, doctrines or thoughts to seep in.
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freyd
So who would the wise and faithful servant providing food to the household of faith in the end times? pastor-russell.com
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Satan gets Credit for Everything...Even the Bible/New World Translation!!!
by oompa inthis thread subject starts after a few posts helping me get it on wordpad from word....thanks guys!...darn i lost all my highlights...geeze this took an hour...i thought the site was down!
the first few post can help you post easier, then i hope sombody finds subject info.
interesting!.
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freyd
http://www.chick.com/bc/1991/easternstar.asp
"Sadly, one of the key strategies a cult uses is to play upon the common interpretation of words. Dealing with any cult involves getting through a jungle of definitions. The cult will use words which have common meanings, like "Jesus" or "saved," or well known Bible verses, but will carefully not explain to potential members that they have applied a subtext to these terms, a second layer of meaning!
This is the problem with the OES. The people who put the order together back in the 19th century relied upon the familiarity with Matthew 2:2 as a common "Christmas verse." However, in light of the satanic symbolism involved in the OES, we need to look for another layer of meaning applied to that verse of scripture.
The A.V. 1611 text does not say "eastern star." It says "star in the east." The phrase "Eastern Star" has a specialized meaning in occultism. It refers to the star, Sirius, which is the most significant star in Satanism! It is sacred to the god, Set. Remember Set as the evil Egyptian god who killed Osiris? Set is probably the oldest form of Satan! The Eastern Star is the star of Set.
However, deadly word games are being played here. Though most women involved in the OES doubtlessly assume they are worshiping Jesus as they kneel around a huge satanic pentagram, it is obvious that the "his" actually refers to Set's star, not Jesus' star.
In Albert Pike's commentary on this degree, we find the usual duplicity found elsewhere in the Lodge. He explains:
"To find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to Divine Providence is fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi, is to give it a meaning comparatively modern. Originally, it represented Sirius, or the Dog-star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile…"
Pike readily casts aside the bland lie of the degree and confirms that the blazing star is neither Divine Providence, nor is it Jesus' "star in the east." It is an Egyptian idol, the symbol of Sirius!
There is another critical problem in the Star—a reason why no Christian woman would wish to be a part of this organization. Set (Lucifer) is the acknowledged god of Masonry. Thus, what does it mean for a Christian woman to be adopted into the Star? She is submitting herself to the spiritual authority of Lucifer.
She may not know it, but in bowing before the altar of the Star, the inverted pentagram of Baphomet, she has surrendered herself (however innocently) to the gods of Masonry. That WILL give Satan an entry point into her life, no matter how devout a Christian she may be."